HOMEWARD BOUND

OK not quite Homeward Bound yet but we had always thought when planning this trip that before Cape Town it was the outward journey and from Cape Town it was north again heading back to Ndola and after UK. As we left “The Mother City” as the locals call it the sun was out and Table Mountain looked very clear in the blue sky. That day we had a very short drive up to the wine area of Stellenbosch and Paarl. We stopped early (well around 11am) for a small tasting that turned into a much bigger tasting. The wines were excellent so we decided to stop in Paarl for the night.

Looking over the growing vines at Boshendal Vineyard

Father Christmas tasting the wines on offer

The old Tramway around Franshoek

After Paarl we headed back over the western coast and the seaside village of Langebaan. A beautiful place on a large bay and lagoon. The campsite was not the best but trying all the bars and restaurants was good. Unfortunately we suffered another problem with a front drive shaft in that one of the rubber boots protecting a CV joint had come loose. We saw this on a Saturday and we were hoping to leave on the Sunday but had to stay until Monday to get it sorted (well sort of) It did mean though that we spent a day in Langebaan National Park which was good. Monday I had the car in the workshop at 7.00am and they had it “sorted” by 10 so we packed up and were on our way. 

Old Buildings in Langebaan Park

A large Puff Adder crossing the road at Langebaan. We made sure that he made it safely

Sunsets and kites

One of the many restaurants we managed to eat in

Langebaan was fabulous for sunsets

Sunbird on a King Protea

The wild flowers were just finishing but still looked good

This time into Cedarberg Wilderness and a really wonderful camp in the mountains. It was a pity we could only stay one night but I had noticed that the same boot on the drive shaft had come of after just 300Kms so it was a stop at a motor vehicle repairers in a small town called ClanWilliam to try once again to get it fixed. It took them a few hours and told me what the problem was and this time they hoped it was fixed. This meant a short drive that day up to a place called Springbok next to a town called Pofadder. (I just love these names)

Sarah examining San Art in Cedarberg

The scenery in Cedarberg is stunning

Great Town Names

A Roadside stop for Breakfast

The next day was goodbye South Africa and hello Namibia, our final country before the return to Zambia. The weather was getting a lot hotter now we were away from the coast and we made our first stop in Namibia at Fish River Canyon, the 2^nd largest canyon on Earth. Namibia looked as we remembered this part, very dry and dusty. We arrived at our stop for the night, Canon Road House, where Jan and I had stopped and camped back in 2011. Then it was winter here and it was freezing at night. We arrived in boiling hot temperatures but with clouds building. Suddenly the wind got up and a huge thunderstorm broke. We had 1 ground tent up as well as the roof tent. We were sitting in the bar watching the rain when someone came running in to say many tents were blowing about in the wind. Sarah and I went over and rescued hers about 20 metres away from where we had pitched it. That was re-erected and securely pegged down. What really surprised me was the rood top one was still fine and no rain was getting in. 

Strange Quiver Trees

Fish River Canyon

Me falling in the Canyon

The storm at Fish River Canyon area

Canon Roadhouse enabled us to get out of the storm

This car needs a sort out I think

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The next day on the drive to Aus we could see road damage and lots of standing water but the rivers that had risen in the rain had now gone again in one night. From Aus we took a drive down to Luderitz with some amazing old German Architecture and then to a Diamond Ghost town of Kolmanskop. This town was built on the shifting sand dunes of the Namib Nauklift Desert in the early 1900s when diamonds were discovered here and was abandoned in the 1950s since when the sand dunes have tried to reclaim it. It was a fully flourishing town with a hospital, Bowling alley, School and many homes.

An old railway station in the Namib Desert

Photos of Kolmanskop Ghost Town

The main hospital corridor

The Church on the Rock, Luderitz

Architecture at Luderitz

Picnic spot in the middle of the desert

After a drive through the Namib desert we arrived at Sossusvlei and the huge sand dunes. We stayed in the park to get an early start in the morning as the nearest camp id some 60 kms from the main dune fields and it is fantastic to see them as the sun rises changing the colours and shadows on the dunes. They are massive and an amazing landscape.

Moon watching on the Dunes

Sossusvlei and Deadvlie dunes

After Sossusvlei it was a drive through Solitaire to the coast again at Swakupmond and a 4 day stop here for the sights of this area including quadbiking on the dunes and looking for sand loving creatures such as snakes and geckos. It was also our final visit to the sea. The temperatures had dropped again on the coast with sea mist rolling in from time to time.

Crossing North again

Quadbiking at Swakupmond

Storms make good sunset photos

This river had some water in

Seals at Cape Cross

To completely catch up we are now in the steamy heat of Etosha for Sarah’s final few days on this trip.